


No Paws for Alarm

by Empress_Of_Edenia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Day 5: Canon/Alternate, Dog Agility, Dog training AU, Fluff, Gen, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Keith Family Week 2018, Keith is the ultimate dog person, Keith's wolf is an Alaskan Malamute, everyone is human, pretty easy-going tone in this story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-07 00:40:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16398149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Empress_Of_Edenia/pseuds/Empress_Of_Edenia
Summary: Keith Delmar-Ashland knows he's not the most outwardly affectionate person in the world, but really. Is it so hard to believe that he and his dog spend quality time together? Today's agility practice run ought to put those kinds of rumors to rest.





	No Paws for Alarm

“Up, up!” Krolia commanded, keeping her voice playful as well as firm.

Keith stood idly, arms crossed over his chest as his mom guided their dog up and over a plastic walkway. The Alaskan Malamute walked in tandem with her, not bouncing all over the place like he normally would’ve. He looked up at Krolia when he made it all the way down, then looked to Keith with his ears perked high and his bushy tail swishing over his back.

“Good boy, Andy! Good boy!” Keith called in return without a moment’s hesitance.  


His mom gave the Malamute a treat and jogged over to the next obstacle with him in tow. Their next stop was a pause table not too far off from the dogwalk. All Andromeda had to do was sit perfectly still for at least eight seconds. It was one of the obstacles Andromeda struggled with the most, always antsy and ready to take off at the speed of light.  


Keith hoped, prayed and pleaded with whatever higher power was listening that Andromeda would ace this. It may have just been a practice run, but Keith held his breath. If Andromeda could do it, he could complete this course no sweat. If Andromeda completed the whole course, well… there was no telling what amazing feats their mother and son dog training team would accomplish down the road. Even if that didn’t happen, though, Keith would still be proud of him.  


The fact that Keith had fun with Andromeda was incomprehensible to his friends. Shiro, Pidge and Hunk were sitting in the otherwise empty bleachers after having asked to watch Team Ashland in action for themselves. “You mean you actually _play_ with Andy?” had been Pidge’s own words.  


Andromeda got up on the pause table and sat back on his haunches. So far, so good. Their audience seemed pleased, but it wasn’t even half of what Andromeda could do. Half of what Keith knew he could do. But this was still a test, in its own right. Standing and waiting while Krolia held up her hand to distract Andromeda, making sure his focus was as hardened as hers.  


Keith fished out the timer from his gym shorts. He set it for eight seconds, dividing his attention between it and the two of them. _Five, four, three..._  


Shiro, Pidge and Hunk burst into cheers when the eight second mark went off. “Alright, Andy! Yeah!” Hunk cried out, pumping his fist into the air.  


“Good job!” Keith called out as he shut the incessantly loud timer off.  


Krolia and Andromeda jogged over to Keith. Now that his mom had completed the first half of the course, it was Keith’s turn to guide Andromeda to the finish line. “He’s ready,” she said with no room for argument in her tone. She handed the clicker and bag of treats to Keith.  


“Knock ‘em dead, Andromeda!” Shiro called out.  


Oh, they would. As his mom did before, Keith held out his hand as a guide to gesture and point Andromeda in the right direction. Up next were the weaving poles, a favorite of both Keith and Andromeda. He never had any trouble getting the dog to go through these. Though his technique never needed as much finesse before today, the day Keith knew that his friends would be watching. “Go, go, go!” Keith instructed.  


Andromeda entered through the poles with his left shoulder like he was supposed to. His stocky body bobbed in and out of the gaps in the poles like it was nothing. His tongue lolled out of his mouth as he smiled, flying off to the side of his jaw as he dashed along.  


Keith couldn’t keep the smile off of his face either. Jogging at a quick pace was fun already, but  flying high with Andy? There was nothing else like it in the world. Naturally, what he hated about this obstacle in particular was having to slow down a little. If he went any faster, Keith would rush Andromeda too much. He’d learned his lesson the first time around; a stressed out dog was an ill-performing dog. Not at all an animal that was suitable to compete. Work had to be play and vice versa. 

Andromeda gobbled up the handful of treats when they both completed that one. His ears twitched at the sound of the clicker and he jumped up on his hind legs, breaking Show Dog Mode for a minute to hug his favorite human and shower him with kisses. 

Keith embraced the dog right back. He let Andromeda bow his head so that Keith could pepper the top of it with kisses of his own. From the corner of his eye, he saw his friends looking at him a bit funny. Keith supposed it was understandable, knowing himself. But that didn’t impede on their lovefest.  


“Alright, you two,” Krolia said. “Finish the course and _then_ we can hug it out.”  


From there, it was a series of jumping over various homemade vantage points. Keith let loose on this one, but remembered to keep an eye on Andromeda’s performance while he ran alongside him. Keith’s long black hair whipped all around as he lowered and raised his hand, indicating when he wanted Andromeda to jump.  


If one were to look at the open field from a distance, they would swear that Keith was training a big, fluffy game animal instead of a pet. Andromeda’s form and precision had never been so graceful, until now. His paws barely even touched to obstacle surfaces as he cleared them in one leap. 

The energy off-field was getting intense. His friends had gone from being mildly amused to trying to contain themselves while watching Andromeda fly through the air. Keith swore he saw Pidge snap a few pictures of Andromeda mid-flight. He wondered briefly if she was going to post them online.  


Keith didn’t have much time to process the thought. The jumping portion of the course went by in seconds, and it was soon time for tunnel-crawling. Keith actually got down to Andromeda’s level, giving the dog encouragement as Keith shuffled through dirt, grass and anything else that had been left on the field days before his mom rented the space. Washing these stains out would be hell, but for Andromeda? It was all worth it. “Don’t give up, you’re almost there,” Keith urged.  


Andromeda’s head sprang out of the end of the tunnel. He did a quick loop-de-loop at the sound of the clicker and gave a triumphant bark.  


“You’re doing great,” Keith said, taking a break to wipe the sweat from his brow and give Andromeda another hug. Now, in addition to the grass stains, he had a chest full of grey and off-white hairs stuck to his wife beater. Oh, well.  


There was only one obstacle left. Running at breakneck speed again, Keith guided Andromeda toward a pair of seesaws. It was similar in nature to the dogwalk, but he made Andromeda stay still for another eight seconds like he did with the pause table.  


Andromeda really had a difficult time doing this a second round. He fidgeted and danced in place a lot more, his great tail creating a flurry of air as it swung from side to side. But he eventually stilled all of his movements. His big, cheery smile dropped and for a few seconds, he looked like he could pass for one of his wilder ancestors. Those brown eyes bore into Keith’s soul.  


Keith slammed his thumb down on the timer the moment it went off, then replaced the harsh noise with the clicker and led Andromeda to the next one.  


For certain, Keith thought that this last stay practice would be too much for Andromeda. He even cut down on the wait time, just to make it easier on the poor dog. But Andromeda didn’t let him down, not for a minute. He held that pose, nose pointed up at Keith’s palm and held it with confidence.  


“You did it! You did it, Andy!” Keith exclaimed, giving him a good handful of the treats.  


Krolia and his friends walked over to the two of them with the biggest smiles on their faces. His mom rarely ever looked as tender as she did right now. “You two were incredible. I’m really proud,” she said, embracing her son.  


“That goes double for me,” Shiro said, clapping Keith on the shoulder. The metal of his prosthetic hand, warm from sitting in the sun all afternoon, sent a wave of good vibes through Keith.  


“Thanks, everyone,” Keith said.  


“Aw, man. We gotta teach Andy how to balance stuff on his nose and like, catch two frisbees at once,” Hunk suggested.  


Keith shook his head with a grin. “Andy is _not_ a trick dog. He’s gonna be an athlete, one day.” 

Pidge ruffled all of Andromeda’s fur and scratched him under the chin. “Athletes can still do tricks, technically speaking.” No doubt she had plans of her own for Andromeda.  


Andromeda, unable to stand being away from Keith this long, leapt off of the a-ramp and into Team Ashland’s group hug. Shiro was also pinned down in the ambush, as he failed to get out of the way in time.  


“Ach, easy boy,” Keith said through laughter and dog kisses. He tried to hold Andromeda better than he already was, but it was a little difficult with eighty-five pounds of Malamute weighing him down. He could barely see past all the fur and slobber, but Keith wouldn’t have it another way. If there was a better way to spend time with his family on a nice afternoon, he’d love to know. 

Krolia and Shiro wriggled underneath the dog’s weight to fully envelop the giant bear of a pet and hug him like the stuffed animal he was. It wasn’t long before Hunk and Pidge joined the love pile.  


**Author's Note:**

> A big, big thank you to NoxiousSanctity/Red for helping me figure out exactly what this story was missing (and naming the dog), as well as stellar-parallax/Parisa and K-Lionheart for last minute edits.


End file.
